Rory O'More

DESCRIPTION: "Young Rory O'More courted young Kathleen Bawn." He teases her. She says Mike loves her and dreams of hating Rory. Rory says "drames always go by contraries," After thrashing Dinny Grimes and Jim Duff he asks her to marry. They marry and retire to bed.
AUTHOR: Samuel Lover (1797-1868)
EARLIEST DATE: before 1839 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 11(3313))
KEYWORDS: courting marriage fight dream
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber)) US(MA)
REFERENCES (8 citations):
Greig/Duncan4 770, "Rory o' More" (1 text, 1 tune)
O'Conor-OldTimeSongsAndBalladOfIreland, p. 90, "Rory O'More" (1 text)
Shoemaker-MountainMinstrelsyOfPennsylvania, pp. 192-193, "Rory O'Moore" (1 text)
Wolf-AmericanSongSheets, #2030, p. 136, "Rory O'More" (2 references)
Winstock-SongsAndMusicOfTheRedcoats, pp. 217-218, "Rory O'More" (1 tune)
Heart-Songs, pp. 202-204, "Rory O'Moore" (1 text, 1 tune)
Hylands-Mammoth-Hibernian-Songster, pp. 49-50, "Rory O'More" (1 text)
Dime-Song-Book #2/72, p. 36 and #2/64, p. 36, "Rory O'More" (1 text)
Roud #6125
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 11(3313), "Rory O'More", J. Catnach (London), 1813-1838; also Firth b.27(136), Harding B 11(1513), Firth c.17(129) [only partly legible], Harding B 11(2596), Harding B 25(72), 2806 b.11(243), Harding B 16(233c), Harding B 11(3312), Firth b.34(212) View 2 of 2, 2806 c.16(297), Johnson Ballads 342, 2806 c.15(328), "Rory O'More"
SAME TUNE:
Too-Ril-Te-Too (The Robin and the Cat) (File: Lins293)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Rory O'Moore
NOTES [322 words]: Since O'Conor-OldTimeSongsAndBalladOfIreland omits the fourth(final) stanza broadside Bodleian Harding B 11(3313) was used for the Description.
Greig/Duncan4, like O'Conor, omits the broadside's fourth verse. Since, other than that, the text matches the broadside very closely, this may be an example of intentional self-censorship although that fourth verse is mild: they marry and go to bed. - BS
At least one source sub-titles this "Good Omens."
There was an Irish nationalist, Rory O'More, who was a leader of the 1641 rebellion (and a grandfather of Sarsfield, for whom see "After Aughrim's Great Disaster"). It doesn't appear he is connected with this song, though. He is the subject of a poem "Rory O'Moore," printed e.g. by Edward Hayes, The Ballads of Ireland (Boston, 1859), Vol I, pp. 191-192.
According to William H. A. Williams, 'Twas Only an Irishman's Dream, University of Illinois Press, 1996, p. 66, "By the 1830s the Irishman was becoming a familiar figure in the American theater. In that decade, however, the combined talents of two men in London helped move Paddy from the periphery to center stage on both sides of the Atlantic. In 1836 Samuel Lover's Rory O'More, a song turned into a play, was among the first comedies to have an Irish peasant character as the hero. The play's success was guaranteed by the superb acting of the man who created the title role, Tyrone Power."
On p. 67, Williams adds that Lover sought to transform the figure of the Irishman: "Lover replaced the old savage element of the stereotype with a childlike naivete. According to [Sally E.] Foster, Lover cleaned up the stage Irishman and made him fit for respectable middle-class entertainment. In doing so, he gave Paddy a new lease on life."
This Tyrone Power (full name: William Grattan Tyrone Power, born in Waterford in 1797; he was lost at sea on the President in 1841) was the great-grandfather of the Hollywood star. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.6
File: OCon090

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